Bio Instruments S.R.L. products

The DE-1P Dendrometer is a highly precise incremental LVDT-based sensor for monitoring micro-variations of trunk radius in micron range. Plant growth and water balance affect diurnal behavior of trunk radius. The growth rate depends on a vegetation stage and environmental conditions. The diurnal variations represent mostly fluctuations of water content in plants. Two radius-based indices are commonly used for evaluating plant water status: daily contraction amplitude and trend of daily maxima. The DE-1 Dendrometer allows investigating effects of irrigation rate and other environmental factors on water balance and growth of plants.

A series of absolute displacement sensors provides recording both size and growth rate of intact rounded fruits in three diameter ranges within 7 to 160 mm. Two phenomena affect fruit diameter. These are growth and internal water content. The growth component is usually dominant. At the same time, in some cases, the fruit may loose water that is manifested in deceleration of growth rate or even shrinkage of the fruit. It may be a result of water stress, lack of light, or another limiting factor. Thus, the FI-type sensor allows investigating effect of irrigation rate and other environmental factors on both water balance and growth of fruits. Another exiting application of the sensor is monitoring of harvested fruits during storage.

The FI-XSP absolute displacement sensor provides recording both size and growth rate of intact small rounded fruits within 4 to 30 mm in diameter. The FI-type sensor consists of an LVDT transducer with a hanging spring, and a DC powered signal conditioner. Standard cable length between sensor and signal conditioner is 1 meter. The probe is connected by a standard 1-meter cable to the waterproof box with the signal conditioner inside. Standard output cable length between signal conditioner and monitor is 4 meters.

The LT-1P sensor is a subminiature touch probe that measures absolute temperature of a leaf. The lightweight stainless steel wire clip holds a high precision glass encapsulated thermistor, which is about millimeter in diameter. Small size of the probe and its special design provide almost negligible disturbance of the natural leaf temperature. The thermistor is connected to the clip by a thin 0.15 mm leads to minimize heat conduction and response time. All conductors are proofed to avoid corrosion under the wet operating conditions.

The PTM-48A Monitor is truly state-of-the-art system for long-term automatic recording physiological characteristics of intact plants. The Monitor has four inputs for original automatic self-clamping leaf chambers. The chamber is normally open and shuts the leaf only for 30 seconds to take readings of both CO2 and H2O exchange rates. The short measurement time provides minimal disturbance of natural leaf conditions. The standard LC-4B Leaf Chamber has a 20 cm2 aperture suitable for a wide variety of broad-leaf plants.